A so-far-shadowy entity, Voëmmr hail from the currently-hot Portuguese raw black metal scene. Specifically, the band is a part of the clandestine Aldebaran Circle, which includes Ordem Satânica, Trono Além Morte, and Occelenbriig. Like those contemporaries, Voëmmr eschew any sort of social-media presence – or any internet presence at all, for that matter – preferring instead to work on their bewitching black metal conjurations far away from any sort of ego-enhancing public awareness; their means and methods are, rather, rooted in the ancient ways of the ’90s, like their massively prolific (and massively fuck-off) forebears in the French Black Legions.

Nevertheless, what Voëmmr accomplish across Nox Maledictvs defies comparison – or, at times, comprehension. The Portuguese entity’s first public recording, Nox Maledictvs is a work of shimmeringly ugly magickal frequencies, sick and rotten and malnourished yet somehow strangely beautiful in their malodorous malaise. Unapologetically raw (and often impenetrably so), Voëmmr create a sound that’s immediately identifiable as “black metal,” but swim deeper into their naked and ripped-raw waters and one will find a particularly peculiar execution of such. Each of these eight tracks crawl into being like a witch being tortured, with piercing screams and adroit riffs reverberating around in a vacuum that could only be likened to an empty ‘n’ cobwebbed cathedral – or dungeon, or both – with drums pounding primitively and ghostly organ floating to the fore. Suicidal aggression ensues, and yet Voëmmr exude a keen awareness of dynamics, often allowing the soundfield space and heightening the tension further. Amidst all this is a malformed sort of melodicism that’s simply haunting, hearkening at times to classic deathrock. Not for nothing, then, was Nox Maledictvs recorded during two nights in a abandoned farm on the countryside.

While the raw Portuguese scene continues to assert its dominance in the black metal underground, we hereby present its strangest new standard: Voëmmr‘s Nox Maledictvs. Exaltation in its entirety can be brought to bear exclusively HERE, courtesy of NoCleanSinging.com. Cover and tracklisting are as follows: